Practice Patterns for Acute Asthma Exacerbation in Adult Patients Admitted to U.S. Intensive Care Units.

Rationale: Guidelines recommend systemic corticosteroids and inhaled ß-agonists for patients with severe asthma exacerbation who are admitted to intensive care units. The benefits and utilization of adjunct treatments after guideline-recommended first-line treatments have been initiated are unclear. Objectives: Examine practice patterns of adjunct interventions in US intensive care units (ICUs) and their associations with outcomes for adults with severe asthma exacerbations. Methods: Using the multicenter PINC AI Healthcare Database of Premier Inc. (2016-2022), we sought to explore the use of adjunct interventions (medications [e.g., magnesium, leukotriene inhibitors, terbutaline, heliox] and procedures [e.g., invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilation]) for adult patients admitted to U.S. ICUs with acute asthma exacerbations. We used hierarchical generalized linear models to calculate risk-adjusted rates of adjunct interventions and quantified between-hospital variation in adjunct interventions using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; higher values correspond to higher between-hospital variation). We then used K-means clustering to identify groups of hospitals with similar risk-adjusted practice profiles of all adjunct treatments and examined associations between identified hospital clusters and patient outcomes. Results: We identified 62,392 patients from 961 hospitals for inclusion. Adjunct interventions with the highest between-hospital variation after risk adjustment were heliox (ICC, 91%), inhaled steroids (ICC, 23%), invasive mechanical ventilation (ICC, 21%), terbutaline (ICC, 22%), paralytics (ICC, 16%), and noninvasive ventilation (ICC, 15%). K-means clustering identified two distinct hospital clusters: Patients who were admitted to Cluster 1 hospitals (399 hospitals) had higher risk-adjusted rates of noninvasive ventilation (51% vs. 33%), compared with patients who were admitted to Cluster 2 hospitals (234 hospitals), which had higher risk-adjusted rates of invasive mechanical ventilation (63% vs. 30%). Cluster 2 was associated with fewer hospital-free days (ß = -0.75 d; 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.95, -0.55) and increased in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 1.28; 95% CI = 1.17, 1.40). Conclusions: The use of adjunct interventions for patients with severe asthma exacerbations vary widely across U.S. hospitals; however, hospitals generally fall into two clusters differentiated primarily by the use of invasive or noninvasive mechanical ventilation. The cluster favoring noninvasive mechanical ventilation was associated with improved outcomes. Our results help to inform usual-care arms of future comparative effectiveness studies and efforts to standardize asthma practice.

Variation in Triage to Pediatric vs Adult ICUs Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Asthma Exacerbations.

BACKGROUND: More than 90,000 children and adults in the United States are hospitalized with an asthma exacerbation annually, and between 5% and 34% of these hospitalizations include admission to an ICU. It is unclear how adolescent and young adults with severe asthma exacerbations are triaged in the inpatient setting between PICUs and adult ICUs. Using a large multicenter US cohort, we characterized how hospitals triage adolescents and young adults with asthma exacerbations between PICUs and adult ICUs. RESEARCH QUESTION: How do hospitals across the United States triage adolescents and young adults with asthma exacerbations between PICUs and adult ICUs? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study carried out from 2016 through 2022 using the enhanced-claims PINC AI database. Participants were patients aged 12 to 26 years who were hospitalized with an asthma exacerbation and admitted to a PICU or adult ICU. We used nested hierarchical multivariable regression models to quantify changes in the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; a measure of variation in triage decisions attributable to hospital of admission after accounting for covariables). RESULTS: Analyses included 3,946 admissions from 93 hospitals. Stratified by age, the percent of patients admitted to PICUs dropped by 26.9% between 17 and 18 years of age. In the nested models, the ICC showed a large decrease going from the empty model (28.7%) to the age-adjusted model (4.5%), but was similar between the age-adjusted and fully adjusted model (3.4%). INTERPRETATION: Our results showed that among adolescents and young adults with asthma exacerbations, age of 18 years or younger was a strong determinant of PICU triage. Further research is needed to understand differences in asthma care and outcomes between PICUs and adult ICUs, as well as how intermediate care units affect triage decision-making from wards and the ED.

Practice Changes Among Patients Without COVID-19 Receiving Mechanical Ventilation During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to rapid changes in care delivery for critically ill patients, due to factors including increased numbers of ICU patients, shifting staff roles, and changed care locations. As these changes may have impacted the care of patients without COVID-19, we assessed changes in common ICU practices for mechanically ventilated patients with non-COVID acute respiratory failure at the onset of and during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: Interrupted time series analysis, adjusted for seasonality and autocorrelation where present, evaluating trends in common ICU practices prior to the pandemic (March 2016 to February 2020), at the onset of the pandemic (April 2020) and intra-pandemic (April 2020 to December 2020). SETTING: Premier Healthcare Database, containing data from 25% of U.S. discharges from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2020. PATIENTS: Patients without COVID-19 receiving mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure. INTERVENTIONS: We assessed monthly rates of chest radiograph (CXR), chest CT scans, lower extremity noninvasive vascular testing (LENI), bronchoscopy, arterial catheters, and central venous catheters. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We identified 742,096 mechanically ventilated patients without COVID-19 at 545 hospitals. At the onset of the pandemic, CXR (-0.5% [-0.9% to -0.2%; p = 0.001]), LENI (LENI: -2.1% [-3.3% to -0.9%; p = 0.001]), and bronchoscopy rates (-1.0% [-1.5% to -0.6%; p < 0.001]) decreased; use of chest CT increased (1.5% [0.5-2.5%; p = 0.006]). Use of arterial lines and central venous catheters did not change significantly. Intra-pandemic, LENI (0.5% [0.3-0.7%; p < 0.001]/mo) and bronchoscopy (0.1% [0.05-0.2%; p < 0.001]/mo) trends increased relative to pre-pandemic trends, while the remainder of practices did not change significantly. CONCLUSIONS: We observed several statistically significant changes to practice patterns among patients without COVID-19 early during the pandemic. However, most of the changes were small or temporary, suggesting that routine practices in the care of mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU was not drastically affected by the pandemic.

Hospital-level variation in practices and outcomes for patients with severe acute exacerbations of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a retrospective multicentre cohort study.

BACKGROUND: In the absence of evidence-based strategies to improve patient outcomes, the management of patients with severe idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) exacerbations may vary widely across centres. We assessed between-hospital variation in practices and mortality for patients with severe IPF exacerbations. METHODS: Using the Premier Healthcare Database from 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2020, we identified patients admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) or intermediate care unit with an IPF exacerbation. We assessed idiosyncratic, between-hospital variation in ICU practices (invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV), corticosteroid use, and immunosuppressive and/or antioxidant use) and hospital mortality by determining median risk-adjusted hospital rates and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) from hierarchical multivariable regression models. A priori, an ICC>15% was deemed 'high variation'. RESULTS: We identified 5256 critically ill patients with a severe IPF exacerbation at 385 US hospitals. Hospital median risk-adjusted rates of practices were: IMV (14% (IQR: 8.3%-26%)), NIMV (42% (31%-54%)), corticosteroid use (89% (84%-93%)), and immunosuppressive and/or antioxidant use (3.3% (1.9%-5.8%)). Model ICCs were: IMV (19% (95% CI: 18% to 21%)), NIMV (15% (13% to 16%)), corticosteroid use (9.8% (8.3% to 11%)), and immunosuppressive and/or antioxidant use (8.5% (7.1% to 9.9%)). The median risk-adjusted hospital mortality was 16% (IQR: 11%-24%) with an ICC of 7.5% (95% CI: 6.2% to 8.9%). INTERPRETATION: We observed high variation in the use of IMV and NIMV, and less variation in corticosteroid and immunosuppressant and/or antioxidant use among patients hospitalised with severe IPF exacerbations. Further research is needed to guide the decisions surrounding initiation of IMV and role of NIMV and to understand the effectiveness of corticosteroids among patients with severe IPF exacerbations.

Factors Associated With Long-term Outcomes of Umbilical Hernia Repair.

Importance: Umbilical hernia repair is one of the most commonly performed general surgical procedures. However, there is little consensus about the factors that lead to umbilical hernia recurrence. Objective: To better understand the factors associated with long-term umbilical hernia recurrence. Design, Setting, and Participants: A retrospective cohort of 332 military veteran patients who underwent umbilical hernia repair was studied between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2008, at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Recurrence and mortality outcomes were tracked from that period until June 1, 2014. Data were collected on patient characteristics, operative, and postoperative factors and univariate and multivariable analyses were used to assess which factors were significantly associated with umbilical hernia recurrence and mortality. All patients with primary umbilical hernia repair, with or without a concurrent unrelated procedure, were included in the study. Patients excluded were those who underwent umbilical hernia repair as a part of another major planned procedure with abdominal incisions. Data were collected from June 1, 2014, to November 1, 2015. Statistical analysis was performed from November 2, 2015, to April 1, 2016. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary study outcomes were umbilical hernia recurrence and death. Results: Of the 332 patients in this study, 321 (96.7%) were male, mean age was 58.4 years, and mean (SD) time of follow-up was 8.5 (4.1) years. The hernia recurrence rate was 6.0% (n = 20) at a mean 3.1 years after index repair (median, 1.0-year; range, 0.33-13 years). The primary suture repair recurrence rate was 9.8% (16 of 163 patients), and the mesh repair recurrence rate was 2.4% (4 of 169 patients). On univariate analysis, ascites (P = .02), liver disease (P = .02), diabetes (P = .04), and primary suture (nonmesh) repairs (P = .04) were significantly associated with increased recurrence rates. Patients who had a history of hernias (125 [39%]) were less likely to have umbilical hernia recurrences (χ21 = 4.65, P = .03). On multivariable regression analysis, obesity and ascites were associated with significantly increased odds ratios of recurrence of 3.3 (95% CI, 1.0-10.1) and 8.0 (95% CI, 1.8-34.4), respectively. Mesh repair was seen to decrease recurrence with odds of 0.28 (95% CI, 0.08-0.95). There was no significant difference in complication rates between mesh repair and primary suture repair. The survival rate was 73% (n = 242) at the end of the study. Factors associated with mortality were older age, smoking, liver disease, ascites, emergency or semiurgent repair, and need for intraoperative bowel resection. Conclusions and Relevance: Ascites, liver disease, diabetes, obesity, and primary suture repair without mesh are associated with increased umbilical hernia recurrence rates. Elective umbilical hernia repair with mesh should be considered in patients with multiple comorbidities given that the use of mesh offers protection from recurrence without major morbidity.